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Background: Building or maintaining institutional trust is of central importance in democratic societies since negative experiences (potentially leading to mistrust) with government or other institutions may have a much more profound effect than positive experiences (potentially maintaining trust). Healthy democracy relies on more than simply trusting the national government of the time, and is mediated through other symbols of institutional power, such as the legal system, banks, the media and religious organisations. This paper focuses on institutional trust–the level and predictors of trust in some of the major institutions in society, namely politics, the media, banks, the legal system and religious organisations. We present analyses from a consolidated dataset containing data from six countries in the Asia Pacific region–Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were undertaken in each country in 2009–10, with an overall sample of 6331. Analyses of differences in overall levels of institutional trust between countries were undertaken using Chi square analyses. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis was undertaken to identify socio-demographic predictors of trust in each country. Results: Religious institutions, banks and the judicial system had the highest overall trust across all countries (70%, 70% and 67% respectively), followed by newspapers and TV (59% and 58%) and then political leaders (43%). The range of levels of higher trust between countries differed from 43% for banks (range 49% in Australia to 92% in Thailand) to 59% for newspapers (28% in Australia to 87% in Japan). Across all countries, except for Australia, trust in political leaders had the lowest scores, particularly in Japan and South Korea (25% in both countries). In Thailand, people expressed the most trust in religious organisations (94%), banks (92%) and in their judicial/legal system (89%). In Hong Kong, people expressed the highest level of trust in their judicial/legal system (89%), followed by religious organisations (75%) and banks (77%). Australian respondents reported the least amount of trust in TV/media (24%) and press/newspapers (28%). South Korea put the least trust in their political leaders (25%), their legal system (43%) and religious organisations (45%). The key predictors of lower trust in institutions across all countries were males, people under 44 years and people unsatisfied with the health and standard of living. Conclusion: We interpreted our data using Fukuyama’s theory of ‘high/low trust’ societies. The levels of institutional trust in each society did not conform to our hypothesis, with Thailand exhibiting the highest trust (predicted to be medium level), Hong Kong and Japan exhibiting medium trust (predicted to be low and high respectively) and Australia and South Korea exhibiting low trust (predicted to be high and medium respectively). Taiwan was the only country where the actual and predicted trust was the same, namely low trust. Given the fact that these predictors crossed national boundaries and institutional types, further research and policy should focus specifically on improving trust within these groups in order that they can be empowered to play a more central role in democratic vitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the relationship between the European Union's (EU) intent in development policy and how effectively it communicates this to third countries (countries outside of its borders), this analysis explores the relationship between EU 'normative' political discourse and the international news media, and how this intersection may lead to the construction of a specific social reality. Using both qualitative and quantitative content analysis to explore textual imagery of the EU in the print news media, this paper presents a case study of the Pacific geo-political region in order to further theoretical conceptions of the EU's role as a political and development leader in the world [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that new publics are being configured by globalization, and that these transnational publics engage state power in a variety of ways. Emerging fields of translocal connection and norm-making — in spaces of global visibility — are regulated by the power relations of mass media, trade, and financial markets. These ideas are explored through an account of three ethnicized Chinese publics — based on the overseas Chinese mass media, as well as the transnational circulation of ethnic Chinese professionals and of Asian capital. These three publics, it is argued, produce new kinds of ethnicized normativities — reflecting ambivalences over capitalism, the masculine embodiment of Pacific Rim capital, and assumptions about its global nature — that induce particular kinds of subjectivity and citizenship among the diasporic Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the overall image of Mexico promoted through its foreign policy (Nation Branding strategies) and reflected in the Us, Canadian, and New Zealand press, with a focus on two major newspapers in each country. To do this, this article employs both quantitative and qualitative analysis. It offers a 6-month long diagnosis of news (1st November, 2014 ~ 30th April, 2015), which will disclose the agenda of objects and attributes regarding Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of paper of various economics, political, and social issues in the Pacific region. The paper entitled, Public Television and Empowerment in Taiwan, by Gary Rawnsley and Ming-Yeh Rawnsley, analyses the development of public television in Taiwan. It argues that media liberalisation and political democratisation were, on their own, insufficient conditions to encourage the growth of media with links to civil society. In the paper of Graham Brown, entitled The Rough and Rosy Road: Sites of Contestation in Malaysia's Shackled Media Industry, it examines the politics of state media control in Malaysia, with a particular focus on the period since the economic and political turmoil of 1997 and 1998. Martin Gainsborough's paper, Party Control: Electoral Campaigning in Vietnam in the Run-Up to the May 2002 National Assembly Elections, considers the nature of government-voter communication and voter-candidate communication during the election to Vietnam's National Assembly in May 2002. And Caroline Hughes' paper, Candidate Debates and Equity News: International Support for Democratic Deliberation in Cambodia, raises the question of the place of rational policy debate in a democratizing society.

While scientific evidence in support of climate change is growing, awareness and education about its effects, especially among vulnerable communities, is lacking, due to language and cultural barriers. Communities are unlikely to respond to government policies promoting mitigation and adaptation strategies without an improved perception of climate change risk at a local level. Mapping the flow of information between decision makers and citizens is an important part of this process. This article broadly explores the communication channels that are being used for awareness and knowledge sharing in the Pacific. At its core, the article discusses a way in which participatory media has been piloted to enable community discussion about issues around climate change in the Pacific Islands. The 'bottom-up' approach encourages participation of marginalised groups such as women, youth, and people with disabilities who bring diverse perspectives in content creation. This discursive space enables citizens to share knowledge and acquire better understanding of the impacts on livelihood and culture. However, a strong community network and consistent mentoring support are prerequisites for participatory media to have long term benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary responds to the research report by Marie Cronqvist and Christoph Hilgert on the value of transnational and transmedial approaches in media historiography. It reflects on my introduction to the concept of ‘entangled media histories’, and its potential application to the study of the history of media in Australia and the Asia-Pacific as the field continues to grow in the region, as sketched out in the piece. It considers the value of the historiographical approach to the Asia-Pacific, and also some of the challenges, principally language barriers, and including the national construction of many digital and other media history resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]